| Itinerary
from Tuesday to Saturday: 4 nights / 5 days
Day
1 .Transfer from Iquitos airport to Nauta city by van (1
1/2 hour) for 4-night expedition. Then you will board your luxury
12-suite expedition vessel, M/V Aqua. Check into your luxurious
suite. You are embarking on a spectacular adventure, to a place
visited by only a few of even the most experienced world travelers.Your
days in this hidden part of the world will be a dramatic study in
contrasts. Imagine seeing rare howler monkeys and pink dolphins
and harpy eagles (not to mention exotic six-foot-wide water lily
pads) by day, and then returning to exquisite gourmet meals, paired
with some of the finest wines from all of South America. In the
evening, you may go on another expedition, or you may simply want
to sit out on the top deck, sip a Pisco sour, and count the stars.
Day
2 .Tapiche River/El Sapote Creek
Today begins with an early morning journey via skiff along the remote
Tapiche River, to search for the magnificent, 3 1/2-feet-long harpy
eagles. Chances are good that you will also see umbrella birds,
tanagers,stern looking chachalacas, puff birds, and more on this
expedition into the deep wilderness.
After breakfast, it's time for piranha fishing on the Tapiche (where
they are bigger than elsewhere). Other options:
curl up with a good book in your spacious cabin or on the Observation
Deck.
As you sail along, you will catch wonderful glimpses of life along
the river, fishermen paddling along on canoes made from tree trunks,children
waving from riverside villages.
Those who want to venture out into the night will be richly rewarded
at El Sapote Creek (only available in the wet season), where it
is possible to see night jars, night hawks, frogs, tarantulas, bats,
falcons, porcupines, night monkeys, and more.
Day
3 .Pacaya Samiria Reserve
Today is devoted to a full-day excursion into the wildlife-rich
Pacaya Samiria Reserve, so vast that it is the size of some Central
American countries. Traveling into the reserve in small boats, you
will enter the black water lakes collectively known as the Mirrored
Forest, where you will view the almost magical reflection of the
towering trees in the glistening water. In addition to the birds,
caimans, monkeys, and dolphins of the Amazon jungle, you will also
see a rich array of flowers in a riot of colors. In the wet season,
as the water level rises, it is possible to travel deeper into the
reserve, exploring its farthest reaches. In the dry season, you
can spot turtles, and the massive jabiru-pink storks standing five
feet tall, with nine-foot wingspans.
After dinner, those who choose to go out on the skiffs will have
a chance to experience the nightlife along the river-an intimidating
array of yellow-crowned brush-tailed bats, fishing bats, snakes,
frogs, and tarantulas.Finally, spend a little end-of-day relaxation
time in an oversized lounge on the Observation Deck, experiencing
the deep darkness of the Amazon night and listening to the ever-changing
sounds of the jungle.
Day
4 .Ucayali/Amazon River/Sapo Playa/ "Jurassic Park"
The day begins with a cruise down the Ucayali and Amazon Rivers.
We make a stop to visit the small, bananagrowing
village of Sapo Playa, where you will need items-t-shirts or school
supplies-to barter for purchases. Later that day and early evening,
we will visit "Jurassic Park," a prehistoric-looking swamp
where the giant, sixfoot in diameter lily pads grow. Here, during
the wet season, you will also have the chance to visit lovely Chontilla
Lake, rich with monkeys, birds, and dolphins.
An optional night expedition lets you view the massive water lilies
again, and gives you a good view of bats and night birds.
Then it's back to the ship, which sails toward the Tahuayo River.
Day
5.Tahuayo River/Iquitos Tour/Departure
Wake up for an early morning excursion on the Tahuayo River, to
capture your last sunrise photos. The morning light is a perfect
time to snap pictures of the rare pink dolphins, terns, and parrots.
You will also have another chance to see the famous, giant, six-foot-wide
Victoria Regia lily pads. During the four-hour voyage to Iquitos,
you will enjoy breakfast and can pick up some last minute souvenirs
in the boutique.
Your afternoon in the remote city of Iquitos, accessible only by
river or air, will not disappoint. This bustling town, complete
with a house built by Gustave Eiffel, was once a rich center of
the rubber industry. After lunch and a visit to a butterfly farm,
you will tour Iquitos before heading to the airport for your flight
to Lima, and on to your next Latin American destination, or for
the journey home.
Note:
Itineraries are subject to change due to weather and time of year.
River and tributary levels may vary, and thus navigation times and
excursions may be modified at the captain's discretion
|
| Itinerary
from Saturday to Saturday: 7 nights / 8 days
Day
1. Iquitos/Amazon River
Arrive in Iquitos this afternoon. There you will board your luxury
12-suite expedition vessel, M/V Aqua, your home for the eight days.
Check into your luxurious, oversized suite, and as you settle in,
your ship will start its journey toward the Yarapa River, an estuary
of the Amazon. You are embarking on a spectacular adventure, to
a place visited by only a few of even the most experienced world
travelers.Your days in this hidden part of the world will be a dramatic
study in contrasts. Imagine seeing rare howler monkeys and pink
dolphins and harpy eagles (not to mention exotic six-foot-wide water
lily pads) by day, and then returning to exquisite gourmet meals,
paired with some of the finest wines from all of South America.
In the evening, you may go on another expedition, or you may simply
want to sit out on the top deck, sip a Pisco sour, and count the
stars.
Day
2. Yanayacu/Yarapa River
Wake up on the Yanayacu River, throw open your curtains, and you
may well see a great snowy egret, white against the green of the
jungle. Keep your binoculars with you on your early morning bird
watching excursion, to catch sight of russet and blue tiger herons,
vivid masked crimson tanagers, graceful storks, blue and yellow
macaws, and black-headed parrots.In the afternoon, you will board
the ship's small skiffs and float to Corriente Lake, where you will
have the oncein-
a-lifetime chance to fish for freshwater red-bellied, black, white,
and purple piranha. The fishing is good year
round, but is spectacular in the dry season. Later that day, we
will visit the small village of San Juan del Amazonas, where some
80 descendants of the famed Cocama Indians still live in thatched
stilt houses, carrying on their tribe's traditions and earning their
living by fishing.
That evening, sip a sundowner with your new friends, as you watch
the sun set over the mighty Amazon River.
After dinner, your naturalist guides will take you on a night excursion
to find caimans, frogs, tarantulas, bats
(there are 88 species in Amazonia), arboreal snakes, possums, owls,
and other nocturnal birds.
Day
3. Yanayacu and Pucate Rivers, Pacaya Samiria Reserve
Today passengers have two choices:
Option 1: Full-Day Excursion - Journey from Yanayacu Creek all the
way to remote Chingana, a small creek where giant river otter usually
nest. These handsome animals were killed in great numbers for their
pelts, and are now threatened with extinction. On this excursion,
you will also see howler and capuchin monkeys, the squirrelsized
monkeys called tamarins, pink and gray river dolphins, and a vast
variety of birds.
Option 2: Guided Jungle Walk/Siesta/Monkey and Dolphin Expedition
- This morning your Park Ranger will tell you all about sustainable
resource management projects in Amazonia, and will take you to visit
one of the projects, where villagers are planting palms to obtain
oil. The ranger may also show you the artificial nests created on
the sand to protect turtle eggs.
After lunch and a siesta, your naturalist guide will take you on
a Monkey and Dolphin Expedition. You are likely to see all four
of the most common species of freshwater dolphins-including the
unusual pink ones-found in the Amazon. Later, keep your eyes directed
toward the jungle canopy, where you can spot at least 10 of the
13 species of monkeys resident in the National Park, including tamarins
and howler, woolly, and pigmy marmoset monkeys. Watch for alligators,
and keep your binoculars at the ready, as you are likely to see
more than 200 species of birds.
After sundowners on the top deck, dinner, and an optional night
excursion, the M/V Aqua will set sail toward
Nauta Caño.
Day
4. Birthplace of the Amazon/Nauta Caño/Ucayali River
and Puerto Miguel
Today, the M/V Aqua skirts the edges of the vast Pacaya Samiria
Reserve, a flooded forest covering five million acres at the headwaters
of the Amazon basin. Rise early and be on your skiffs at 5:30 a.m.
to view one of the great spectacles of the Southern Hemisphere:
the sun rising over the birthplace of the Amazon River.Here-where
the union of two major tributaries, the Ucayali and the Marañon,
form the world's greatest waterway-nature is at its most dramatic.
Your dawn excursion will be accompanied by abundant bird song, as
you glide in small boats past river banks populated by large-billed
terns, laughing falcons, gray tanagers, sandpipers, five kinds of
parakeets, the exotic short-tailed parrot, and dozens of other birds.
A post-breakfast excursion to Nauta Caño takes you into a
wilderness populated by squirrel monkeys, saddleback
and black mantle tamarins, iguanas, tagu lizards, and an abundance
of tropical birds. Later, you will depart on the Ucayali River Excursion,
to visit Puerto Miguel village.
Day
5. Tapiche River/El Sapote Creek
Today begins with an early morning journey via skiff along the remote
Tapiche River, to search for the magnificent, 3 1/2-feet-long harpy
eagles. Chances are good that you will also see umbrella birds,
tanagers,stern looking chachalacas, puff birds, and more on this
expedition into the deep wilderness.
After breakfast, it's time for piranha fishing on the Tapiche (where
they are bigger than elsewhere). Other options:
curl up with a good book in your spacious cabin or on the Observation
Deck.
As you sail along, you will catch wonderful glimpses of life along
the river, fishermen paddling along on canoes made from tree trunks,children
waving from riverside villages.
Those who want to venture out into the night will be richly rewarded
at El Sapote Creek (only available in the wet season), where it
is possible to see night jars, night hawks, frogs, tarantulas, bats,
falcons, porcupines, night monkeys, and more.
Day
6. Pacaya Samiria Reserve
Today is devoted to a full-day excursion into the wildlife-rich
Pacaya Samiria Reserve, so vast that it is the size of some Central
American countries. Traveling into the reserve in small boats, you
will enter the black water lakes collectively known as the Mirrored
Forest, where you will view the almost magical reflection of the
towering trees in the glistening water. In addition to the birds,
caimans, monkeys, and dolphins of the Amazon jungle, you will also
see a rich array of flowers in a riot of colors. In the wet season,
as the water level rises, it is possible to travel deeper into the
reserve, exploring its farthest reaches. In the dry season, you
can spot turtles, and the massive jabiru-pink storks standing five
feet tall, with nine-foot wingspans.
After dinner, those who choose to go out on the skiffs will have
a chance to experience the nightlife along the river-an intimidating
array of yellow-crowned brush-tailed bats, fishing bats, snakes,
frogs, and tarantulas.Finally, spend a little end-of-day relaxation
time in an oversized lounge on the Observation Deck, experiencing
the deep darkness of the Amazon night and listening to the ever-changing
sounds of the jungle.
Day
7. Ucayali/Amazon River/Sapo Playa/ "Jurassic Park"
The day begins with a cruise down the Ucayali and Amazon Rivers.
We make a stop to visit the small, bananagrowing
village of Sapo Playa, where you will need items-t-shirts or school
supplies-to barter for purchases. Later that day and early evening,
we will visit "Jurassic Park," a prehistoric-looking swamp
where the giant, sixfoot in diameter lily pads grow. Here, during
the wet season, you will also have the chance to visit lovely Chontilla
Lake, rich with monkeys, birds, and dolphins.
An optional night expedition lets you view the massive water lilies
again, and gives you a good view of bats and night birds.
Then it's back to the ship, which sails toward the Tahuayo River.
Day
8. Tahuayo River/Iquitos Tour/Departure
Wake up for an early morning excursion on the Tahuayo River, to
capture your last sunrise photos. The morning light is a perfect
time to snap pictures of the rare pink dolphins, terns, and parrots.
You will also have another chance to see the famous, giant, six-foot-wide
Victoria Regia lily pads. During the four-hour voyage to Iquitos,
you will enjoy breakfast and can pick up some last minute souvenirs
in the boutique.
Your afternoon in the remote city of Iquitos, accessible only by
river or air, will not disappoint. This bustling town, complete
with a house built by Gustave Eiffel, was once a rich center of
the rubber industry. After lunch and a visit to a butterfly farm,
you will tour Iquitos before heading to the airport for your flight
to Lima, and on to your next Latin American destination, or for
the journey home.
Note:
Itineraries are subject to change due to weather and time of year.
River and tributary levels may vary, and thus navigation times and
excursions may be modified at the captain's discretion
|
